Today is Allan Huber Selig’s 90th birthday, but most of us know him as “Bud”.
For those familiar with the former Brewers owner and MLB commissioner from 1998 to 2015, it should come as no surprise that for much of those 90 years on Earth, Selig has held a passionate love for the game of baseball. That love started at a young age, going to games at Borchert Field on Milwaukee’s north side to watch the then-minor league Brewers. While a sophomore at UW-Madison, Selig traveled down the road back to his hometown to ensure he was in-person to see the debut of Milwaukee’s first MLB squad, a 10-inning thriller ending with a Billy Bruton home run and a 3-2 Milwaukee Braves win over St. Louis.
15 years and one messy team divorce with the Braves later, Selig would lead the charge to bring baseball back to Brew City, acquiring the bankrupt Seattle Pilots in 1970 and re-christening them after his beloved minor league Brewers.
While Selig’s legacy in Milwaukee is solidified, outside of Southeast Wisconsin the water is murkier. Many baseball fan’s lasting memories of Selig have been of his slow response to address steroids in the sport, as well as a less-than-graceful handling of the 1994 MLB Strike. In an op-ed at the time by WTMJ’s Bob Reddin, he opined that many across the national media had gone so far as to label Selig “the man who killed baseball”:
But baseball is still alive and kicking 30 years later, and at least in Milwaukee, that would likely not have been the case if not for the insistence of Bud to make it so. When old County Stadium needed a replacement and it seemed not so likely to happen, Selig was always there to remind developers, fans, and politicians what got them the Brewers in the first place, and what is necessary to ensure a small-market team can hang with the big kids.
“Back in the ’60s when this thing was being put back together, I saw it over and over..this is a time for two things: courage and vision” Selig told WTMJ in 1994. “This is a time in life for courage and vision”.
And that message took hold, and the Brewers are still playing in the house that Bud, if not built, certainly helped craft, to this day.
Selig’s legacy is not just limited to Southeast Wisconsin; he helped bring both of the separate baseball leagues closer together with the implementation of interleague play in the late 1990s, and was instrumental in the planning for the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, which now serves as one of the greatest tools for growing the globalization of the sport.
Back at home, Selig’s impact on the culture of Brewers baseball is palpable even to this day.
“I was recently talking to him, and can still see his passion for the day-to-day” Brewers manager Pat Murphy tells WTMJ. Murphy says Selig would still be able to break down even new acquisitions like recent bullpen arm Nick Mears just as well as any current analyst. “It’s just incredible the way the man lives and dies with it every single day”.
Selig’s legacy outside Wisconsin may be mixed, but his influence on the fabric of Milwaukee baseball is undeniable. And if you would ever question whether or not Selig truly loves the American pastime, a portion of his 2017 MLB Hall of Fame induction speech should leave little doubt of that:
“I teach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as Marquette Law School and Arizona State University. And then at night, I still find myself in front of a television set watching every game of baseball I can. It really has been a remarkable journey.”
So happy 90th, Bud. We’re proud to call you one of Milwaukee’s most loyal native sons, and if I ever bump into you at Gilles, your next sundae’s on me.
